A few months ago, I went to the doctor about digestion problems. He did a few checks, asked me about my diet and lifestyle (usual things) and came to the conclusion that I have a "lazy" digestive system, but it's nothing serious and I don't need to worry about it too much as long as I eat extra fibre and drink plenty of beer (which is a natural laxative) and do enough exercise.

Now, the problems really start whenever I have anything with more than a little gluten in. Basically, anything with vital wheat gluten gives me a weird feeling in my stomach, which is followed by, well, enthusiastic mucus production. It seems to have a pattern of "a little gluten is okay, more than half a serving of seitan and it's crazy-bowels time, more than that and it's snot o'clock".

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I don't, to my knowledge, have problems with beer or bread (although I just found out my favourite pint is not vegan, so it's local cider from now on).

It seems to be limited to gluten-intensive things, rather than all the time. I know the solution to this is easy and obvious, but I just thought I should check.

_________________Moon - "This is the best recipe in the history of recipes forever."

i was listening to a podcast yesterday about "subclinical gluten intolerance" and the answer to your question seems to be yes. you can be sensitive. i personally think it's not so much if you test celiac, but how you feel when you eat something. If it makes you sick, avoid it- and see if it helps. i am in the same boat as you- if i eat a lot of snausage, or that delicious-but-deadly fake ham, I am most painfully constipated. Had a really bad experience about a year and a half ago. So I took a gluten break for about 6 months (almost total GF, just occasional slip ups), then went back to eating bread, but avoiding gluten. In the last months I'm very carefully introducing gluten meat back into the rotation, but keeping an eye on how things go. So far so good, but most of the time I use TVP instead of gluten, just to be safe.

I've heard it termed NCGS- non celiac gluten sensitivity. I beleive I have this- true celiac testing is negative but i get symptoms with eating gluten... It seems very common. there is an article linked to this topic about the commonness on this forum

My boyfriend's sister doesn't have celiac- testing was negative. But if she eats gluten she gets a variety of symptoms, all fairly mild. Digestion issues, hives, joint pains, headaches. She "treats herself" every now and then to bread, pasta, etc. But she deals with it. When I was tested for celiac many years before I even thought gluten was an issue, I had some antibodies but not high enough to garner a full diagnosis. Now, when I incidentally get glutened, I can't tolerate what happens. Migraines, vomitting, hives. Joint/muscle pain. Severe digestion issues. Fatigue. So I definitely feel that there's a scale of extremity to gluten intolerance, whether its celiac or an allergy or however you want to term it.

Hmmmm, I'm the same. When I made chickpea cutlets with vital wheat gluten I got a "weird" tummy too. I also feel bloated & heavy when I eat a lot of bread or pasta (both of which I try to avoid) & I get pain in the joints in my fingers.

If I eat too much VWG I get terrible stomach cramps and not-so-pleasant and quite frequent trips to the bathroom. I think that VWG is just really hard for most people's bodies to digest. There isn't that high of a concentration of gluten in any whole food and so the human body has never really had to adapt to it. I think that most people's bodies (or at least mine) just don't really know what to do with it, and so they freak out.

i tested negative for celiac but gluten gives me a bunch of problems, including ibs flares, migraines, exhaustion, mild depression and more. i quit gluten and every time i have even a tiny bit now i feel like crepe immediately.

give it a trial run and quit gluten and see how you feel.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

I listened to a podcast by a doctor who has been researching celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and he said that many, many people will test negative for celiac, even though they may have it, or may be intolerant enough that eating gluten is still dangerous for them. He said that people need to have extensive damage to their intestines before a blood test will turn out positive. He also said that a saliva test is in the works, so that will be able to detect the antibodies sooner.

Basically, he said that there's a lot of evidence that people who are gluten intolerant and may not have celiac, should still avoid gluten. For people with celiac, even "cheating" on their diet once a month is dangerous. He cited a study where people who have celiac and don't stick to their diet all experienced lack of blood flow to the brain, versus very few on the diet who did. This can explain how run-down and crabby you can feel when you've eaten gluten, and also possibly the depression and other psychological symptoms people feel before they start their diet.

Celiac is autoimmune, so anything like joint pain and migraines is a sign you shouldn't be eating it. Well, at least that's my opinion--I just worry about everyone! I want you to be safe! :)

So, if eating a ton of gluten in the form of seitan or store-bought faux meat causes symptoms, but bread or baked goods don't cause any noticeable symptoms, would it still be best to avoid these things? could it be doing damage even if I don't feel anything?

So, if eating a ton of gluten in the form of seitan or store-bought faux meat causes symptoms, but bread or baked goods don't cause any noticeable symptoms, would it still be best to avoid these things? could it be doing damage even if I don't feel anything?

According to that audio above he said yes, it can do a lot of damage even if you don't have symptoms. I have plenty of symptoms and I am convinced this is what was wrong with my grandmother, mother, sister and daughter. I am a really bread kind of person and hate the imitations. Although when I want a tempeh or veggie burger I eat them.

Most tempeh is gluten-free, and there are plenty of gluten-free veggie burgers out there! You don't have to feel like you're either depriving yourself or forcing yourself to eat gluten.

I'm sorry I phrased that wrong. I meant I eat them on a gluten free buns even though I don't like the additives in the buns. I use Millet & Flax buns even though I have my doubts that they are entirely gluten free because of possible cross contamination. Thanks I thought the tempeh was gluten free but wasn't sure.

My brother in law experienced the same thing. We attributted it to much gluten in take and less of drinking water. We convinced him hard to lessen his gluten in take and drink lots of water. And that did help! Little by little, he's trying to eliminate gluten in his system. Not only it helped him with his digestion problems but also helped him lose extra weight. He used to wear XXL shirts, but now he's happy coz he now can wear the XL shirt I bought him last Christmas.

Cool! Well done to him! It's a great feeling when you go down a size; it eliminates the "everyone is just saying I've lost weight to be nice" issue in your head. Good for him : )

The best thing i've got for u a book called " Breaking the vicious cycle of intestinal diseases " this book has alots of good info for gluten free and also having some good recipes . Must check it . hopfully this will helped u . Thanks

I'm a bit late to the party here, but did I miss something or didn't anyone really explicitly state that there's a wheat allergy that is completely unrelated to coeliac disease? Of course in practice the main difference is that it's harder to die from a wheat allergy, and apart from that you deal with it in much the same way, i.e. by not ingesting gluten...

As for putting gluten in blood and so on, I'm afraid the only really conclusive test for coeliac disease involves a biopsy from the small intestine... there is a good chance that the blood test will come back without strong evidence for the disease, but you could still have it. If omitting gluten containing food from your diet helps then you should do it no matter what the test says.

You can gluten intolerant, allergic to wheat, or celiac. People with celiac disease have to avoid all gluten, in all forms. People who are allergic to wheat might be just fine with other gluten-containing grains. And people who are gluten-intolerant may be able to handle grains or products with minimal gluten -- that kind of depends on your personal constitution. I feel like so much about gluten intolerance is still not understood.

I had a negative celiac test a few years ago, but I am definitely gluten intolerant -- I bloat really painfully, get stabbing sensations in my guts, and break out in hives. I even found that my psoriasis and menstrual symptoms improved when I cut out gluten -- reduced inflammation, I guess. I just avoid it altogether, but I have not been retested for celiac antibodies with a blood test, and have never had the biopsy.

I am gluten intolerant, I have never been tested but I know when I eat certain foods I get intense, cramps, headaches, mood swings, weight gain, "cloudy thoughts" etc... If it makes you feel like crepe it is smart to avoid it as much as you can. Some stuff like soy sauce doesn't seem to bother me much, though I prefer the non-wheat version.

_________________" It was my dog Boycott who led me to question the right of humans to eat other sentient beings."— Cesar Chavez

I see no one has posted in here for a while, but it's been quite informative. Thanks! I've been thinking that the culprit behind my body aches, fatigue, foggy head and bloating have been related to wheat for a few months now, so a few days ago I decided to go GF and can already feel some improvement.

Here's the weird thing though- My symptoms have only been present for the past 6 or 7 months. I had mono last spring and recovered, except for a few days a week where I would wake up with throbbing musko-skellatal pain. I've been trying to find more information, but all I can gather is that when your immune system is low you can develop new allergies.

My boyfriend who is not vegan, is pretty much freaked out that I'm going to eliminate something else from my diet, but I just told him that if it worked I would keep doing it because not eating *le pain* is better than being in pain.

If this works, should I still see a doctor? I've visited websites that basically say you could go to a doctor and get false negatives, or get false positives and a viable option is to just listen to your body.

I have been tested and I am not technically allergic to anything, but gluten makes me foggy, headachey, bloated, and gives me horrible IBS flares. my allergist told me that I can get an intestinal biopsy as a way to positively test, but that if not eating gluten makes me feel better then I just shouldn't eat gluten.

if you do decide to see a doctor, you have to have gluten in your system to test for the allergy, so don't quit gluten and then get tested.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

My doctor told me I have food sensitivity to gluten, rather than any kind of allergy or celiac thing. My reaction to gluten depends on my immune system at the time. If I'm healthy I can eat an entire Midwestern state of wheat fields. If not, a shake of flour will derail me for days. What helps with me is probiotic bills. Twice daily.